Coffee Copycats: Bodum’s Chambord coffee plunger wins Federal Court appeal

In a surprising result, a majority of the Full Federal Court of Australia has upheld an appeal by the Bodum Group in a long running dispute about a “copy” CHAMBORD coffee plunger.

In the first instance and on appeal, Bodum submitted that it had a reputation or secondary meaning in the design of its CHAMBORD coffee plunger among a significant number of people in Australia and that DKSH, the company responsible for importing a coffee plunger called EUROLINE with very similar features to the CHAMBORD coffee plunger, misled consumers by selling products whose features signify that they were made or licensed by Bodum, part of the Bodum range or otherwise associated with Bodum. Read More »

Vanuatu has a New Trade Marks Act
Or does it?

A new Trade Marks Act came into force in Vanuatu on 8 February 2011. Previously, Vanuatu simply re-registered existing European country registrations such as a United Kingdom registration or more recently, it was possible to re-register a Community trade mark registration.

The new Act is closely based on the existing Australian Trade Marks Act and provides for national registrations in Vanuatu. Re-registration of European country registrations will no longer be permitted. Read More »